We are starting many new units this week, and the students and I are very excited!
Reader's Workshop
The students are all reading chapter books that I have assigned them for their independent reading time in class. After they have completed their books we will write book reports. This is an important skill the students will need for fourth grade.
We are also working on enhancing our vocabulary. I am introducing 8 new vocabulary words on Monday, and we will be working with these words all week. Today, we met in small groups and read a wonderful story with our vocabulary words. As we read we discussed the meaning of these words in their context.
Writer's Workshop
We have just begun working on our Persuasive writing unit. Today we learned that a persuasive speech begins with an opinion, or thesis statement, and is followed by a series of arguments. We wrote the first paragraph together as a class, but then the students took over to draft their speech independently. Ask them about their incredible speeches!!!
Math
This week we are looking at the test questions that NY state released from last year's math test. We worked on the questions independently today, and I will go over the answers and strategies tomorrow. We will be test for the remainder of the week.
Social Studies
We are studying countries from around the world. Last week we learned about Switzerland. This week we are looking at Guatemala, Namibia, and Burma.
Be on the lookout for an important paper coming home on Friday. We are beginning to talk about our end of the year project. This is a country research project! The students will be assigned their country on Friday, and will need to work on gathering resources for the project. All of the work will be done in school, but I will need help adding resources to what we have available to us here. Also, I have tentative plans to hold a Country Fair to show our work on the evening of Thursday, June 2nd from 5-6 pm. This will run at the same time as the Art Show to limit the amount of year end commitments required of families!
Finally, there will not be a spelling list this week, or next to give us time to focus on our vocabulary work. Thank you for understanding!
Thank you to our mystery reader, Mr. Collins!
Great job at our mini-wax museum Sally Ride, and Albert Einstein! 
